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Published on Monday, February 16, 2004
in the local6.com
Depending on which law enforcement agency Lee County motorists encounter, the little-known Move Over law is either a priority or a rarely enforced traffic violation.
Either way, the Florida Highway Patrol, Lee County Sheriff's Office and other agencies say enforcing the law designed to protect emergency personnel and motorists alike has proven a challenging endeavor. Many drivers don't know about it, officers say, and police working solo find it difficult to enforce.
Adopted in July 2002, the Move Over law requires motorists to move over one lane when approaching emergency vehicles with lights flashing along the road. If it's a two-lane road, drivers must reduce speed 20 mph below the posted limit.
The violation carries an $89 fine in Lee County and three points against a driver's license.
Between 1996 and 2000, Florida motorists crashed into emergency vehicles along roads 1,793 times, resulting in five deaths and 419 injuries to law enforcement officers, according to the FHP.
Almost two years after the Florida Legislature passed the law in response to those deaths and injuries, it has yet to register with many drivers.
"Most people still aren't aware of the law," said FHP Capt. Eddie Johnson. When I learned to drive, if there was anything on the right-hand side of the road, you moved over.”
North Fort Myers resident Nancy Moore, 55, who moved from New Jersey last year, wasn’t aware of the law. She said she moves over anyway but has seen drivers in a hurry who don’t bother.
"It's not such a great law if people don’t know about it," Moore said.
FHP troopers often distribute a one-page flier about the Move Over law to drivers they stop, Dodson said, but FHP officials concede the public does not seem to be getting the message.
Law enforcement officers in other states agree.
In Wyoming, where the idea became law in July 2001, "I'd be willing to bet every stop we make somebody violates the law," Wyoming State Police Patrol Sgt. Steve Townsend said in a press release.
Those who violate the law in Wyoming can face a fine and court costs totaling $110. In South Dakota, violations are punishable by a $200 fine and/or up to 60 days in jail.
Motorists in Texas, too, could face up to a $200 fine.
In Lee County, FHP trooper Jeff Rongish does not want to become a statistic. He said he often enforces the Move Over law and rarely issues a warning. Rongish said the problem is evident on Interstate 75, but also on heavily traveled Colonial Boulevard from Fort Myers to Lehigh Acres.
"I get blasted (while on the side of the road) all the time, and it makes me nervous," he said. "It's just another traffic law I enforce."
But enforcing the law remains difficult because officers who are working a crash scene or traffic stop cannot justify leaving to pull over a driver who didn’t give them the proper courtesy.
During a November FHP traffic detail on Alligator Alley in Collier County, troopers cited 90 motorists for disobeying the law, and half of those drivers went to court to fight it, Johnson said.
"We've moved into an enforcement phase," Johnson said. "The first year or so, we were trying to educate the public."
Move Over has not been a major priority for the Lee County traffic control unit, according to Sgt. Jerry Cantrell. His unit conducts drunken driving, speed and red-light running details that he said are much more important to public welfare than the Move Over law.
"It's not in my immediate plans" to dedicate any special operations to the Move Over law, he said.
"Most law enforcement officers pull over as far as we can," Cantrell said. "We certainly are cautious."
Fort Myers police Cpl. Michael Payne said the law is difficult to enforce without other officers on the scene. He thinks driver's education programs and more public service announcements regarding the Move Over law would be helpful.
FHP spokesman Doug Dodson said his agency still has some radio ads playing in select markets, but said more could be done to tell drivers that what was once a matter of common sense has become the law.
Fort Myers police issued fewer than 40 Move Over citations from July 2002 through December 2003, police spokeswoman Kara Winton said. She agreed there are only a limited number of opportunities to enforce it.
"It's true there are probably a lot of people out there who don’t know about it," Payne said. "If I'm taking enforcement action, I can't just stop just because somebody didn’t move over. It's very tough for a single officer to enforce it."
But not impossible. Rongish said he goes after people who run by him if he’s wrapping up a traffic stop in his car with lights flashing.
Patsy Kirchhoff, 71, the main driver in her family, said she moves over whenever she sees lights flashing along the road, though she didn't realize the law in Florida is similar to the one in her home state of Virginia.
"That's just part of the driver's training I had," she said.